Often the symptom of drinking too much of water is mistaken to be a "healthy" sign, says Dr Dev, adding owners are mostly shocked to learn that their pet has diabetes.

Bandra resident Kay Pires, whose pet bird Love, a male cockatiel, was diagnosed with high sugar a year ago, admits she earlier associated the disease only with humans. "I was too stunned when tests showed Love had diabetes," says Pires. The bird was initially recommended daily insulin jabs for three months. "Now Love is given a tablet which is powdered and fed with a dropper. He is fed low-carb food. A fortnightly blood sugar test is a must," says Pires, a businesswoman, adding that this line of treatment has to continue for life. But Pires and her family has to remain alert about the bird's blood sugar dipping too low. "When he sits quietly in one corner of his perch, stops whistling or chirping or appears subdued, we know his sugar could be low," she says, adding there are outward indicators.

"Other lifestyle complications like hypertension, kidney failure or narrowing of the arteries," says Dr Gaikwad who is also a professor of medicine at Bombay Veterinary College. Vets say stress in birds is another factor, which for instance, can be triggered by cooping up many of them in pigeonholes.

Dr Gaikwad cautions high sugars could also be a reflection of stress. Before concluding that an animal has diabetes, one should first rule out the stress factor as it can push up sugar levels and give a wrong picture that the animal is diabetic, he says.

Most animals or birds with diabetes, he says, need insulin shots to control sugar levels.

Dr Madhuri Gurjar, a homeopath who treats human beings and attends to animals out of sheer passion, says a few animals whom she has treated with homeopathic medicines have shown positive results.

She says she treated an abandoned Labrador diagnosed with diabetes, at the Thane Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"This canine had diabetes for nearly eight years. She was partially blind in both eyes. I put her on daily homeopathy tablets. With time, her sugar levels were controlled and her vision improved. The results were amazing," says Dr Gurjar, adding the dog died recently but diabetes was not the cause.

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